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This classroom-based project included the development of clear and concise instructions, an analytic rubric as well as practice and testing materials to assess students’ speaking abilities. The speaking tasks consisted of three parts: reading aloud, describing a picture, and giving an opinion. As an extension of an ongoing departmental project originally focusing on second-year pharmacy students, the researchers have incorporated eleven first-year student groups from all departments. Six of the groups were offered the module face-to-face, while the other five received instruction, practice tasks, and feedback online. The aim of the current project was to improve confidence and production of logical arguments by implementing a formative speaking assessment module that provides students with opportunities for advancement through succinct instruction, insight into strengths and weaknesses, self-evaluation and instructor feedback. Research questions included: 1) To what extent did the use of the assessment tool improve first-year students’ comprehensibility in English? 2) To what extent did classroom instruction help improve student confidence? This study took a mixed-method approach where data from student grades and surveys were collected and analysed. To obtain a baseline of students’ speaking abilities prior to any formal instruction and gain insight into the assessment process, one class was chosen by each instructor and asked to record themselves describing a picture. A comparison of the baseline assessment and finals resulted in improvement following the introduction of rubrics and explicit instruction. The remaining two aspects also showed a distinct rise both in grades and comprehensibility between midterms and finals. Survey results showed that across departments, students’ confidence in their abilities to express themselves in English increased over the semester. Future research will focus on redesigning and evaluating the speaking assessment rubrics both for first and second years.

Self-reporting of concussion is essential to appropriate intervention, and failure to report concussion-like symptoms is a significant issue. In the current study we sought to investigate factors that contribute to the process of self-reporting concussion symptoms within the context of the Canadian Football League. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was adopted, employing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ten Canadian League Football (CFL) players. We found significant complexity within the decision-making process for CFL players, when assessing whether or not to report a concussion. In the preliminary grounded theory emerging from the study, we identified two stages involving 1. pre-game preparation, and 2. assessing the impact. In addition, we determined three related processes (themes): 1. intrapersonal symptom checklists, 2. perceived pressures to play, and 3. certainty of symptoms.

Hermeneutics has much to offer those interested in qualitative inquiry, and is especially suitable for work of a textual and interpretive nature, yet writings in hermeneutics are frequently viewed as dense and impenetrable, particularly to North American audiences and those unfamiliar with the Continental Philosophical tradition. Drawing on Hans Georg GADAMER, as well as other hermeneutic thinkers, an introductory overview of five characteristics of a hermeneutic approach is offered in this paper. Further, it is suggested that hermeneutics can fruitfully be partnered with a critical approach. In this regard, a critical attitude and a metaxological approach are explored and a conceptualization of critical hermeneutics is proposed. It is suggested that hermeneutics and critical hermeneutics implicitly underpin qualitative inquiry, both of which emphasize the interpretive act of understanding, and a dialogue on this subject is invited. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0603190